This is a guest post by SmallGovCon.
In an earlier post, Steve updated SmallGovCon readers on a very important SDVOSB eligibility change: beginning October 1, the VA will begin using the SBA’s eligibility rules to verify SDVOSBs and VOSBs.
The SBA has now followed suit—in a final rule published September 28, 2018, the SBA has amended its eligibility rules for SDVOSBs. These rules provide important clarity into SDVOSB eligibility going forward.
Let’s take a look at some of the most important changes.
The first change that jumped out at me was the SBA’s new definition of “extraordinary circumstances.” By way of background, SmallGovCon readers know that the VA and the SBA have long had differing standards of control—in some cases, the SBA required that a service-disabled veteran exercise absolute control over the SDVOSB, while the VA recognized that non-veteran owners should have a say over some matters in the business. This conflict meant that a company could be an SDVOSB under the VA’s regulations, but not the SBA’s.
The new SBA rules try to bring consistency to this mess. It should come as no surprise, however, that the new rule specifies that service-disabled veterans must control the company’s “daily business operations,” and defines that term as including, “but not limited to, the marketing, production, sales and administrative functions of the firm, as well as the supervision of the executive team, and the implementation of policies.” But the SBA has included a new provision (at 13 C.F.R. § 125.13(m)) that allows non-service disabled veterans to have a say over certain “extraordinary actions.” The new rules set out five—and only five—of these extraordinary actions:
1. Adding a new equity stakeholder;
2. Dissolution of the company;
3. Sale of the company;
4. The merger of the company; and
5. Company declaring bankruptcy.
Other than in the case of these five actions, the SBA’s rules still require the service-disabled veteran to control the company.
Exercising this control, the new SBA rules require that the service-disabled veteran work at the company during normal business hours. Importantly, however, the SBA has not included a full-time devotion requirement, meaning that, in theory, the veteran can have outside engagements, so long as the veteran is able to control the company’s management and daily business operations. But if the veteran is not able to work at the company during its normal business hours, there is a rebuttable presumption that the veteran is not actually in control.
The SBA would also prefer it if the veteran worked close to the company’s headquarters or jobsites. If the veteran “is not located within a reasonable commute” to the company, there’s a rebuttable presumption that he or she does not control the firm.
Under the new rule, various examples are given of circumstances that may cause the SBA or VA to find that the veteran doesn’t satisfy the unconditional control requirement, including cases where the SDVOSB has business relationships “with non-service-disabled veteran individuals or entities which cause such dependence that the applicant or concern cannot exercise independent business judgment without great economic risk.”
The new rule also makes important changes to the ownership requirements for an SDVOSB. We’ll look at these in a follow-up post, or you can read the full post now at SmallGovCon.
